My ears were ringing. I could see William's lips move but his words sounded faded, as if I were underwater. My chest rose up and down fast to the rhythm of my jerky breathing.
'You are the Nephilim, Charlotte', he'd said. It simply couldn't be true. I couldn't be part Angel. Because that would mean that one of my parents was an Angel, and I would have known that fact. I would have known if one of my parents was a celestial being, directly descended from God. But deep down, I believed that what William had said from the beginning of our conversation was true. I couldn't tell why, I simply— felt it. Were my parents even my real parents? Was it possible that I had been adopted? The thought made me shiver. No, I looked too much like them. I had been told my entire life that I had the green eyes of my father, and the smile of my mother. I even had the exact same hair as my mother, long locks of golden-brown curls.
Although the facts were right in front of me, I couldn't accept them. Because that would have shattered my entire world. I suddenly stood up, clueless to what William had been saying while I was lost in my thoughts. He was up as fast as I was, and looked at me as if I was a lost puppy.
"I know this is a lot to take in, Charlotte," he sympathized. I lifted my head to meet his gaze.
"Do you really?" I retorted with a scoff. "You just told me everything I believed in was a lie, and I'm supposed to— what? Believe you blindly? I don't know you, why should I? You're a—" He looked at me with challenging eyes. I stood my grounds. "You're a vampire, a creature driven by blood, why should I believe anything you say?"
His features suddenly darkened. His jaw clenched and his lips became a thin line.
"If I were the monster you seem to think I am, your body would be drained of its blood by now."
He had a point, and I wondered to this point why he needed me alive. Did he want to open the Gates himself using my blood? No, he would have done that a while ago if that were the case, plus, he sounded too protective for that. It sounded as if he wanted to keep it closed. But why?
"Why am I still alive?"
I didn't realize I had thought out loud until the expression on his face changed again. The look he had now was screaming that he was wondering the same thing himself.
"Because you might be the last heir able to seal the Gates forever," he answered and my heart skipped a beat. His words echoed in my head in a broken loop. No, I didn't want anything to do with this. I wanted my life back, I wanted to forget about all of this, about even meeting him. I wanted Dee, and Rick, the only two beings I knew could bring me comfort.
I didn't answer, and turned on my heels before walking towards the entry door. I had barely managed three steps before William was in front of me.
"I only lied to you once," he said, blocking my way to the door. "When I told you there was an emergency at the hospital when we were having dinner together— everything else I told you is the truth." My eyebrows arched and then furrowed. That wasn't true. He told me he was a hunter when we met. No— he actually never said that. I did, and he never confirmed it, he simply let me believe it. "When I said I couldn't let you leave now, I wasn't lying either."
My body froze at the sound of his words. The finality in them made me shudder. He really wasn't going to let me leave.
"You can't keep me prisoner," I blustered, my hands shaking with a mix of fear and anger. "People are gonna notice I'm gone and—"
"I'm not keeping you prisoner," William cut me off. "I'm asking for your help."
I couldn't help the ironic chuckle that escaped my lips. He was asking for my help? By telling me I couldn't leave? What exactly did he want from me?
"By keeping me prisoner— yeah, makes total sense. I don't know where you come from, but where I come from, we don't hold people hostage if we need their help— that kind of defeats the purpose."
A deep growl of frustration echoed in his throat, and I was shuddering all over again. He might be as attractive as a God, but he was probably as intimidating as well. He stared at me with his jaw so clenched I wondered how he didn't break it.
"Is everything alright in here?" A voice suddenly resonated by the door, pulling my attention away from William. I was so absorbed by his dark and grave features that I didn't even notice someone had entered the house. The man looked about my age, in his mid-twenties, and almost as attractive as William. His blond hair was short on the sides and longer at the top, his eyes the colour of the ocean and his skin was golden. The light scruff on his jaw and cheeks almost made him look older than William— almost. Considering the fact that William was a vampire, the chances for that man to be older than him were slim. Although, he could also be a vampire. My heart stopped.
"Yes," William answered through gritted teeth, his eyes still locked on mine.
The young man reached us in the blink of an eye, and I realized I was right. He was a vampire. That explained how I didn't see or hear him enter. I swallowed hard at the idea of being here alone with two vampires, and without a weapon. Flashes of the night I was almost killed by one of them rushed back to me, and my heart started hammering in my chest again.
"So that's her?" The man said with a deep Scottish accent as he scanned me over. "I get what you meant about the smell now."
My mouth opened and closed as if to answer something but I was too stunned to talk. Did I really smell so bad? Was that why William kept asking me to shower? Heat suddenly made its way to my cheeks. The man smiled at my reaction.
"But you didn't mention how beaut—" he started but before he could finish his thought, William cut him off.
"Don't—" he ordered in a deep growl. It only took one glance from William for the man to lose his grin, and he cleared his throat.
"Does she know?" He asked and my eyebrows furrowed.
"Know what? That there is such a thing as the Gates of Hell? That God is real? That Angels are a thing and that they spend their time making children with humans?" I exclaimed, my nails digging into my palms. I was shaking from pure anger now. They couldn't tell me all these things and then keep me prisoner for whatever twisted reason they had. If they really needed my help, all they had to do was ask me. I might have refused to give it to them, but at least it was the civilized thing to do. But I wasn't dealing with civilized beings, was I?
"You need to calm down." The demand in the tone of William's voice was almost desperate. It was an order, not a suggestion. And that only infuriated me more, but before I could start screaming at him, he had me pushed against the living room wall, his hands pinning mine on each side of my head. I stopped breathing. Was that how it ended? The situation felt all too familiar again, and I felt tears threatening to spill. I bit my cheek not to let them. "I've already told you the effect you have on me, haven't I?" I remained silent, too scared to dare talk. "Haven't I made it clear that if you don't control your heartbeat I might not be able to control myself anymore?" If he thought that would help my heartbeat to slow down, he was terribly wrong. "You see the effect the simple beats of your heart have on me— what do you think will happen if you dig those nails too deep inside your palms? What do you think is going to happen if you draw your own blood?" His eyes had turned the deepest shade of black I had ever seen. He was walking on the edge of a cliff, and I wasn't sure how long he could keep his balance. But then it hit me— he was trying to protect me from himself. That thought made me swallow hard as I tried to ignore the ever growing tingling feeling in my body. He was holding my hands flat on the walls so that I couldn't dig my nails in my palms anymore. Could he feel the burning sensation the contact of his skin on mine was igniting? It felt like my hands were flames, it felt like a heat I had never experienced before. My breath caught in my throat. I should be scared right now. Why wasn't I? Despite that realization, my heartbeat didn't slow. And it wasn't because of fear.
The sound of someone clearing their throat echoed in the room, pulling both William and me out of our staring trans.
"Should I come back at a more— convenient time? Give the two of you some privacy to finish whatever was started here?" The blond vampire behind us said, trying to hold back a laugh.
Another deep growl escaped William's throat as his hands lifted from mine. If the sound that left his mouth didn't make it clear enough that his friend was about to get murdered, the look on his face did. He stepped back from me, his eyes still focused on me while my hands fell on my sides. They still felt like they were burning, only less intensely. Now that he was a step away, I could finally breathe again.
"Caelan," William said before turning around to face the blond. "Watch your mouth." Despite how menacing his tone was, the blond guy now identified as Caelan smirked. I could only assume that the two of them were close. The tone William had used would have made anyone else run in the opposite direction, myself included. My body relaxed slightly as I detached it from the wall I had just been pinned to and my heart rate progressively slowed down.
"Where are the others?" William asked Caelan who was staring at me with amused interest. He moved his gaze back to William.
"On their way— Although I regret telling them to come here now," he added, glancing back at me. My eyebrows furrowed as his eyes met William's again. "You might be able to control yourself, but I can't say as much of the kids. I am struggling myself and I've had centuries to tame the cravings. She's just—"
The way he was looking at me now was so intense so I felt my legs wobble underneath my weight.
"I know," William answered before walking towards the cabinet he had pulled the bottle of whisky from earlier.
"What happened here?" Caelan asked, seeing the state of the kitchen. Sharp pieces of glass were covering the floor, amber-coloured liquid splattered everywhere, and the broken bottle of whisky was sitting on the counter, still covered in William's blood.
"She attempted to murder me," William said nonchalantely although I noticed how the corner of his lips curled into a small grin. He was holding another bottle of expensive looking whisky in his hands. Caelan started laughing at his comment.
"With a broken bottle?" He asked when he managed to calm his laughter. The realization only made him laugh harder. I rolled my eyes. What a bunch of assholes.
"I'm very surprised you're still standing to tell the tale," he mocked as he looked at me with a new interest. "She's not as clueless as you made it sound, mate— looks to me like she's got your personality pretty well for trying to do what no one else dares to act upon."
Fury made its way back to me again. I wasn't the clueless, harmless little thing they thought I was.
"You continue to talk about me as if I'm not in the room and I'll use the broken bottle to cut your cock off," I said, fighting not to dig my nails in my palms. William was right, I couldn't make myself bleed while in the presence of vampires.
Caelan and William's heads jerked so fast in my direction I wondered how they didn't get a stiff neck. A large grin quickly appeared on William's face. Caelan's face remained serious as he scrutinized me, probably trying to figure out whether or not I would act on my threat. I certainly would, even if I wouldn't get very far. That thought made me wonder, did cocks grow back on vampires?
"She's seriously thinking about it," Caelan suddenly said, shocked, and I felt heat rush to my cheeks again. There was no doubt they could hear my thoughts anymore. How else would he have been able to tell what I was thinking about?
"Of course she is— she's pretty violent, haven't I mentioned that before?"
"Apparently you forgot," Caelan answered and his lips curled into a smile. "I like her."
They were talking about me as if I wasn't in the room again. Did Caelan not care for his cock at all? He must have seen the look on my face because he quickly lost his grin and his features softened.
"Sorry, sorry— I prefer my cock attached to my body."
I refrained from smiling. These two were the most peculiar vampires I had ever met. Far from the bloodthirsty creatures I had met before. But even though they were not actively trying to get a taste of my blood, I was still being kept prisoner. And there were still a million questions left unanswered.